Based on true events. The names of the German airmen were not changed for this film, but the names of the British airmen were changed. The real names of the British airmen were captain R. T. Partridge (Davenport) and R.S. Bostok (Smith).
With the exception of Stig Henrik Hoff, who was born in Norway, all of the main actors were born in their character's nations- Florian Lukas and David Kross in Germany, with Lachlan Nieboer and Rupert Grint in England.
David Kross (Josef), did voiceover work on the German version of the video-game for "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone." Rupert Grint (Smith), was one of the stars, in the Harry Potter movies.
PROLOGUE: "Inspired by actual events. In the winter 1940 it was a race between Britain and Germany to conquer Norway. The object was to gain control of the iron ore export from Norwegian harbors. German bombers and British fighters had skirmishes. Grotli, Norway, April 27, 1940."